Roy Rogers and Dale Evans draw record-breaking Denver crowd

[media-credit name=”Denver Post File Photo” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit] “Howdy, Cowboys!” – Roy Rogers and Dale Evans step off their train to receive a welcome from the hundreds of Denver youngsters who were on hand to see their heroes arrive in the Mile High City Wednesday morning. February 13, 1952

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans performed to the largest (till then) indoor crowd in Denver history. Fourteen thousand children and parents packed the Denver Coliseum in 1952 to see the “King of the Cowboys” and “Queen of the West.”

After spending the day visiting Denver hospitals, the pair rode into the coliseum on prancing palominos.

When the master of ceremonies cried “Who are the king and queen of the west?” the enraptured crowd roared “Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.”

During the show Rogers crowned the champion yo-yo “top spinners” of Colorado. This was part of a national “Roy Rogers Roundup” contest.

Colorado spinners Deanna Foulk and Raymond Peterson won trips to Hollywood. While there, they went on location to the Roy Rogers Show in the San Fernando Valley.

Deanna relayed this story about her visit:

“We climbed way up on a rock where we could watch the whole scene without getting in the camera’s way. It was a scene where Pat Brady is standing up in Nellybelle, looking out over the valley through binoculars. Roy and Dale ride up, and kid him about his lazy way of looking for stray cattle.

Suddenly Pat realizes he’s watching someone being murdered, and they all ride off to try to stop the crime. They had to do the scene several times to get it right. Once Bullet barked when he shouldn’t have, and another time an airplane flew overhead and ruined the sound track.”

Back in the 50s, our family lived in Eastern Colorado. During that time period, the merchants had decided that they could do more business on Saturday if the children were occupied and entertained, so the parents would be free to shop without a lot of “help” from the kiddies. So the merchants in our town sponsored free movies on Saturdays for the kids. Small kids had to be accompanied by an older sibling, relative or baby-sitter. Most of the movies which were made available on those Saturday afternoons were Western movies, featuring, Roy, Dale, Gene Autry, Rex Allen, The Durango Kid, the Lone Ranger and other Western heroes. At some point during that time, I guess I must have written a fan letter to Roy and Dale. A couple of years ago, I was surprised when I learned that Roy and Dale had actually kept ALL of the fan letters which they received over the years. A woman, who was eager to help out a foundation which Roy and Dale had founded, decided to publish a book of those long-ago letters which Roy and Dale received from their many fans. I was very surprised, during the past couple of years, to receive a letter from the lady who was putting together that book. It seems that one of my long-ago fan letters had been chosen for inclusion in that book. I contacted RFD TV, which had been airing episodes from the old Roy Rogers Show, and asked if the family of Roy Rogers was aware of the plans being made to publish a book about those long-ago fan letters. RFD television told me that the family of Roy and Dale IS aware of the book project and fully support the publication of that book. The name of the lady who was putting the book together is Tricia Spencer. The Denver Post should get in touch with her and ask about her book project. There may be other Colorado folks whose fan letters have become a part of this book project. It would be hard to tell how many other Hollywood celebrities actually kept the vast majority of the fan letters which they received, but I believe this just proves what a class act Roy and Dale really were! And, as such, they certainly deserved their titles of King of the Cowboys and Queen of the West. In case the Denver Post would like to get in touch with Ms. Spencer – following is her address — Ms. Tricia Spencer, The Touch of Roy and Dale, P.O.Box 70669, Riverside, California 92513.